By Megan Alley
Sun Reporter

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Census Bureau has moved the deadline to respond to the 2020 Census from Oct. 31 to Sept. 30, a month sooner than previously announced.

In April, as the country was experiencing the first effects of COVID-19, President Donald Trump’s administration told Congress that it wanted several more months to gather and deliver data for the 2020 Census.

As a result, the Census Bureau had planned on pushing back the statutory deadline – of Dec. 31 – four months, moving the deadline for delivering apportionment counts to the president to April 30, 2021, and the deadline for delivering redistricting data to states to July 31, 2021.

Last week, Trump’s administration changed its mind and announced that it was holding the Census Bureau to the federal deadline, and that the Census needs to deliver all the census data by the end of the year. 

Critics of the about-face warn that the accelerated timeline jeopardizes the accuracy of population numbers used to determine the distribution of political representation and federal funding for the next 10 years.

On Aug. 3, U.S. Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham released a statement on “Delivering a Complete and Accurate 2020 Census Count.”

The statement opening reads, “The U.S. Census Bureau continues to evaluate its operational plans to collect and process 2020 Census data. Today, we are announcing updates to our plan that will include enumerator awards and the hiring of more employees to accelerate the completion of data collection and apportionment counts by our statutory deadline of December 31, 2020, as required by law and directed by the Secretary of Commerce. The Census Bureau’s new plan reflects our continued commitment to conduct a complete count, provide accurate apportionment data, and protect the health and safety of the public and our workforce.”

Philadelphia Regional Census Center Media Specialist Helene Kramer Longton said in a phone interview that, “The Census Bureau shares the public concern that everybody is counted once and in the right place … the Census Bureau is saying that we can move this up by a month and get it done.”

She added, “Of course, there may be those who disagree.”

Longton went on to describe the Census Bureau’s plans to meet the new deadline.

“In a nutshell, what we determined would be required to make the statutory deadline, would be additional training for our field staff, providing incentives and rewards to census takers to maximize the number of households that they reach, additional staffing and staffing hours; and of course, doing that with pandemic oriented safety,” she said.

As of Aug. 10, Clermont County has a census response rate of 73.5 percent, which is a bit higher than the current statewide response rate of 67.6 percent.

Notably, census workers officially began door knocking in Clermont County on Aug. 11.

If you haven’t already submitted your information for this census, do so today, Longton said.

You can respond to the 2020 Census using the ID number included in the questionnaire packet, as responding with a census ID or the paper questionnaire helps ensure the best count of your community. 

People can respond online at www.2020census.gov, by phone at 1-844-330-2020 or by using the paper form in the packet.

On a related note, temporary and flextime census jobs are still open in Clermont and Brown Counties. Hourly rates pay between $14 and $21.50 an hour. 

More information on job opportunities can also be found on the census website.